If you don’t build your dream someone will hire you to help build theirs.

If you don’t build your dream someone will hire you to help build theirs. – Tony Gaskins

Is this you, building your dream, are you working to build one for someone else, or did you hire her to build part of your dream for you?

What does that mean?
This quote is about your future, and what your plans for it might be. If you have no specific plan, or aren’t working on your dreams, what will you be doing?

According to this quote, you’ll probably be working on the dream of someone else. While that’s not improper, illegal, or fattening, you could be working on your dream instead. Or better yet, if at all possible, work on both at the same time.

But why wouldn’t you be working, at least part time, on your dreams? Do you not have anything that motivates you enough to overcome your tendency to procrastinate? Are you uncertain how to get there, and stuck in analysis paralysis? That’s not good, is it?

Why is having a dream important?
Dreams are what give us the drive to get things done. A dream is what gets us up off the couch and doing things we might not otherwise want to do. For some people, work is what they do to earn the money to use in the chasing of their dreams.

Or, perhaps, they’re using it to hire others to build their dream for them. We don’t always have the talent to realize our dreams. Sometimes you have to hire it out to those with the skills. Most of us don’t learn to fly just to go on vacation, we pay someone else to do that for us, and go along for the ride.

The pilot has a job, but most of them are there because they love to fly. They get paid to do their job, but their job is also part of their dream. In this way, they get to build their dream, while being paid to do what they love. Wouldn’t that be great?

Where can I apply this in my life?
Well, if you’re a pilot, you’re probably already living the dream. The rest of us will have to work a little harder to make it work. What is your ultimate dream? I’d prefer an active dream, not just sitting on a beach somewhere. That gets old after a few years. What then?

The first step in this process would be to recognize how many dreams we actually have. Think of all the things you really love to do, or would love to learn to do. Consider all the different parts of your life where you have dreams or aspirations.

What is your dream job? What kind of people are your dream friends? What social groups would you join, if you had the choice? Take a few moments and think about what you are interested in doing, where you want to go, and the people with whom you’d like to do these things.

Grab some paper and write down all of these things. Try to get something from all the different parts of your life, including hobbies and other distractions, as well as skill sets, places, and improvements you’d like to make to your life. Make as big a list as you want.

Now for a little reality check. What would you have to do to get from where you are to where you want to be? The distance isn’t as important as your motivation. If you’re willing to do what it takes to get from here to there, you can keep it on the list.

If you don’t believe you can do it, or won’t do the work necessary to make the dream come true, put a single line through it. Who knows, you may change your mind later on and come back to wanting it. You never know what will happen, what doors might open, or how your tastes might change.

Take a look at what is left on your list, and see if there are any patterns. Do you have some hobbies that are also part of your work, or could become your work? I happen to love playing with computers, but if that didn’t work out, working on cars would be another great way to earn a living.

What do you do, or could you do, that might help you build your dreams? Can you hire anyone else to help make things happen? Hire a travel agent to make arrangements? Hire an airline to fly you there? Hire a baggage company to make your luggage?

None of these things need to be custom or made to order, it can be regular commercial flight or off-the-shelf bags. My point is you didn’t have to do it, you had someone else help you build your dream. That is part of the beauty of the quote, to me. You work on your dream, and enlist others to help as well.

Anything you are willing to work for can happen. But your dream needs to be bigger than the obstacles. How hard are you willing to work for your dreams? Or will you settle to working on the dreams of others?

From: Twitter, @TonyGaskins
confirmed at : it’s from his own twitter feed (similar to a Jim Rohn, also occasionally attributed to any number of other people)Photo by Martin Pettitt

If you mean what caused the person who said the quote to come up with it, I don’t know. My guess, as he is a motivational speaker, that it was probably part of a routine to get people dreaming again, and to put forth the effort to get them to focus and then act.

I too keep coming back, mentally, to the idea of starting my own dream. However, the obstacle of not knowing the outcome has created a wall in the path. Since I’m aware of this fact, procrastination has really set it. I’m very close to a deadline and now, not only do I have my personal “analysis paralysis” going on, but the deadline as well. I do have a little motivation trying to struggle to come thru.. and this is what keeps me from giving up. Your article was very encouraging. Thank you!!

I am glad the quote gave you some encouragement. The problem may seem big and far to strong, but it is weak around the edges. Do small tasks, and slowly take it down. Break it into small enough parts that you can solve each in sequence. And stay strong, in heart, in mind, and in body. You can do it, or you would have given up already. You still seek a solution. Don’t wait for it, do what you can right now. Take the first step, and then the next. The wall will fall, and you will see the challenge you have break into smaller and smaller parts.

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